American 9ewish Periodical Center

Friday, April 5, 1946

4

CLIFTON AVENUE - CINCINNATI 20, 01110

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle

/NAN OF THE liTIEU

4 ■

'

ARD-WORKING, energetic, plain-spoken Julian H. Krolk, new-
ly-elected president of the Board of Governors of the Detroit
Jewish Welfare Federation, is saluted by the Chronicle and
i ,. c orded honor as the Man of the Week.
Krolik was born and raised in Detroit. He went to Central High
chool and then on to the University of Michigan where he took a
oneral literary course and was awarded his degree in 1906. While at
he University, he became interested in dramatics and joined the
Deutscher Verein to participate in their plays.
"I have never since been interested in plays or dramatics," he
chuckled. "As a matter of fact, my main connection with the Verein
was in the capacity of business manager."

Enters Family Store
On graduation, he entered into the family store as a stock clerk.
The Krolik Corporation, a wholesale dry goods store, has been in
existence since 1871. The business
was being run by Krolik Senior
and his brother and some cousins
when young Julian entered the
scene. Promotion was rapid and
the young lad went through all
the positions there were. He now
holds the position of vice-presi-
dent.
Mr. Krolik entered into
community service at the ten-
der age of eight. At that time,
his mother was a member of
the hoard of the Hebrew IA-
A dies Society for the Support
of Jewish Widows and Or-
phans. Dues for the society
were one dollar every quarter.
The board members sent their
children out to collect the
dues.
"It was an easy job," he remin-
isced, "but there was no pay at-
tached. It was easy because it
was a cash business, no credit
being extended."

Active at Beth El
Krolik next appeared on the
community scene when Dr. Leo
JULIAN 11. I(ROLIK
M. Franklin organized the Tem-
ple Beth El. He was quite active in this society, being, on one occa-
sion. the manager of a moonlight.
In 1900, he acted as toastmaser at the Temple Beth El Sunday
School Banquet on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of the Temple.
In the Temple records, there is a printed copy of the speech he de-
livered there. It is remarkable for its brevity.
Shortly after the turn of the century, Dr. Franklin was taken ill
in each of two winters and left the city. Krolik read the services at
the Temple. He has been for years an active member of the Temple.
Next, he worked at the old Hannah Schloss Building, teaching
English to foreigners in the evening.

So They Tell Me---

By LOUIS W. ENFIELD

Ed Rosenbloom was his name.
He wasn't a particularly pious
Jew. Nor was he a deep thinker.
As a child, he had learned at his
mother's knee that all Jews were
responsible for one another. When
the Hitler regime went into full
flood, he became more conscious
of his Jewishness. In his own
small way, he tried to repair his
fences.

Ed was an insurance man. Ev-
ery morning, he drove from De-
troit to Pontiac, about twenty-five
miles. Every evening, sometimes
as late as midnight, he drove
back.

It was usually pitch-dark on the
road home. Such cars as were on
the highway whizzed by at seven-
ty miles an hour. But Ed merely
cruised along. He was never in
any particular hurry.

At the city limits of Pontiac
there was a traffic light. Hitch-
hikers gathered there, thumbing a
ride into Detroit. No matter how
late Ed drove by, there was al-
ways someone jerking his thumb
at the passing cars.

Ed started picking them up
about the time a Jewish boy in
France shot and killed a German
undersecretary. The whole Jewish
people in Germany had been fined
for this, so vast a sum that the
entire world was astounded. Am-
ericans in general were indignant.
But Ed started thinking.

Nothing that he could do would
count much one way or the other.
But a friend was a friend. You
cast your bread upon the waters.
So Ed picked up the hitchhik-
ers. Every night he stopped at the
light and picked them up. Some-
times one, sometimes two or three.
And he chatted with them as they
rode along.

Most of them were heading for
Detroit, looking for work. They
didn't have bus fare. They thank-
ed him fervently for stopping.
Many of them had desolately ex-
Op Many Boards
pected to spend the whole night
Now intensely interested in community organizations. he is on the at that signal light. As a rule,
hoard of several of them, including the North End Clinic, the Jewish drivers were afraid to pick up
Welfare Federation on which he is president of the Board of Gov- strangers, especially so late at
ernors, the Unitdd Jewish Charities, the Detroit Community Council night. With all the murders one
of which he is the treasurer, the Jewish Hospital the Detroit Com- read about in the papers, you
munity Fund and the advisory board of the Detroit League for the couldn't blame a driver for think-
Handicapped. He is president of the East Central States Region of ing it dangerous. And then they
the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds. He was also became curious. How come Ed
vice-president of the Community Fund for several years.
had picked them up. Wasn't he
At the present time, his main interest is the Federation, particu- afraid?
larly the Jewish overseas needs at the present time. He feels that
Then Ed Rosenbloom expounded
progress in the Allied Jewish Campaign is hopeful.
his simple philosophy. He was a
"However, he said soberly, "it still reanires a vast amount of
Jew. Over in Germany, Jews were
%%ark to meet the unprecedented needs with which we are faced.
being persecuted. Here they were
I think that the way the majority of people that have been asked
free. The least a Jew could do was
to work have responded is splendid. It will be necessary for them
to help out someone in need.
and for every interested member of the community to give time,
"You don't have to thank me,"
effort and money to all extent we have never known before if our
Ed used to say. "Just thank your
obligations are to he adequately met.
"I hope," he added, "that under the proposed amendments to the lucky stars a Jew came along. I
by-laws, the Federation Board will get the benefit of the ideas of more don't know much about my re-
elements in the community than ever before and that, conversely. more ligion, I'm sorry to say, but I do
groups in the community will become better acquainted with the know this. The Jewish religion
says that every Jew has got to
work of the Federation and its agencies and their needs."
help his neigbor."
Member of Zionists
Every night for a year Ed told
Krolik is a member of the Zionist organization. He follows the this to strangers he picked up.
They all listened. Some said they
movement and its developments very closely.
Until last year he played some tennis and indulged in some swim- knew this was true. Some heard
ming. He is in excellent health and finds himself able to spend long it for the first time. But one and
all were impressed. The facts
hours at his business.
were plain. It was late at night.
During his lifetime, he has had litttle personal experience with Every other car had passed the
anti-Semitism. In a business way, this is a negligible factor because
hikers by. Ed was a stranger. He
of the preponderance of Jews in this particular trade.
neither asked nor expected grati-
tude or pay.
Sheltered Life

t

"Besides that." he continued, "I have had a sort of sheltered In.
I know anti-Semitism exists and I have seen many of the difficulties
it brings up, especially in the way of employment and rental discrini-
i nation.
"In the country where anti-Semitism was greatest," he said re-
flectively, "the damage is already done. I do not think there is any
future at all for Jews in Germany. They must all leave, go wherever
i they can. The bitterness in Germany will die out only when the pres-
ent generation of both Jew and Gentile dies out. The new group of
Germans will probably not be anti-Semitic because they will have had
no experience with Jews at all."
"Community attitudes change on various subjects." he said thought-
fully. "I remember when I was in the thick of a fight in the hoard
of the old United Jewish Charities. There had been a petition by a
e ' dish dramatic group called the Greener Vinkle to put on a play
/iddish at the Hannah Schloss. The question was whether a pd..-
..mance in Yiddish was un-American. After a furious battle, the play
' f ■ as finally permitted. Since then such an issue has never arisen in
our community.

..(

Some day, thought Ed, some-
where a Jew will benefit from
this. People are grateful. So he
picked them up night after night,
in every season and every weath-
er.

Then he got married and drove
with his wife to Chicago for a
honeymoon. They picked up a
hitchhiker. The hiker shot and
killed them both and stole the
car. The police caught the killer
the same day and he confessed.
People shook their heads sadly.
They had always 'known that no
good could come of picking up
hikers. But an intimate few who
knew Ed Rosenbloom's method of
thinking felt a little different.
Studies Time Tables
Ed had cast his bread upon
One of his hobbies is studying time tables, making plans for imag- the waters. He was building up
inary trips. His favorite reading is a railroad guide and his favorite defenses against the far - flung
form of art is a map. When Mrs. Krolik was working at the USO, attack the Nazis were carrying
she would call him at frequent intervals to ask how a soldier could 1:o on against the Jews. His plans
to some city. Without consulting any reference whatever, Mr. Krolik had started when a Jewish lad
would give the name of the train, the connections and stop-overs. Nine killed a German undersecretary.
Many Jews had paid for that
times out of ten, he was exactly right.
crime and Ed felt all along that
all Jews were responsible for one
Family of Four
another.
Mr. Krolik is married and has four children. His wife is the for
Far removed from the scene
mer Golda Ginsburg Mayer and their children are Henry A. Krolis.
recently discharged from the Army; Corporal David B. Mayer of of that crime, Ed had paid for
AACS, now on the way home from India; John L. Mayer, recently it too. A person casts his bread
discharged from the Navy as a radio technician and now a student upon the waters. That's the chance
at Wayne University, and Judith Mayer, a student at Highland Park you take. Sometimes it never
comes back.
High School.

Page Five

Book review

By LEON SAUNDERS

Our Educational System

What is wrong with our educational system? Strangely enough,
when one thinks of any department of the city, state or- federal ad-
ministration, the question immediately arises, "What's wrong with it?"
With whom does the fault lie that children, under our democratic sys-
tem, do not know anything about democracy?
In my opinion, the fault lies with the Board of Education and with
the pedagogical brotherhood. The Boards of Education are filled with
politicians, mostly conservative and some downright reactionary, secret
enemies of education, who are as scared of any new idea as the devil,
they say, is of frankincense.
The educators, even those who are not conservatives, are so en-
grossed in their narrow sphere of technical knowledge as to ignore
the crying needs of life.
It is related that Napoleon once decided to take advantage of the
accumulated knowledge of the professors and sought their advice on
matters of government. Sixty-five professors were invited. They came
and Napoleon spoke to them in turn. To the professor of dynamics,
he spoke of fortifications. The reply was an explanation of the binom-
inal theorem. To the professor of political economy, he spoke of com-
merce. The professor cited the opinions of Diodorus Siculus of the
12th century. "Put them all out!" cried Napoleon. "Cursed ideologists,
put them out!"
John Mason Brown tells of the conversation he had with a pro-
fessor of English on Shakespeare. "Do you know," asked the professor,
"why King Lear's speeches are so effective?" "Because Shakespeare
wrote them?" "Oh, no!" exclaimed the professor, "because these
speeches contain 20 hortatory verbs."
Prof. John Dewey defines eduacion as the means of social con-
tinuity of life. Life covers customs, institutions, beliefs, recreations
and occupations.
But we have dscovered long ago that we cannot know anything.
Our minds are educable. The extreme optimists believe that education
can achieve everything. Mould the virgin minds of the chldren in the
right way and you can turn every brat into a great man. The pessi-
mists believe that heredity is everything and that education can do
nothing to alter mental disposition predestined by nature. Can we
manufacture Miltons and Napoleons out of little Browns and Joneses?
The Japanese changed their outward life through education in a
western manner. Nazi Germany is the best proof as to what one can
do with a childish mind. The main question is what is the purpose of
education and to what purpose are children sent to school or univer-
sities. Aldous Huxley says "to encourage social tendencies." But what
are social tendencies? The Hindus lay stress on virtues of asceticism
and quietistic resignation. The ancient Greeks stressed the ideal of
beauty, which in our system is a matter of secondary consideration,
the rational, the practical side being predominant. Locke treated edu-
cation under four heads: virtue, wisdom, manners and learning, the
last the least important of them.
He considered virtue, wisdom and manners more important than
learning. Learning, though, always had its advantages. In the Middle
Ages, if one knew Latin, he could not be arrested by the ordinary
police and could be tried only by an ecclesiastical court, if that is an
advantage.
We have, of course, advanced immensely in the extent and method
of learning. For instance, in 1740 in Oxford University, the requisites
were: Bene vestiti optime nati, mediocriter duct (well dressed, gentle
birth and moderately learned). As to medicine, one remembers in
Molier's Malade Imaginaire an examination of a doctor. "Why does
opium put one to sleep? Because there is in it a dormative virtue,
the nature of which is to lull the senses." Whereupon the chorus of
professors rapturously applaud, "Bene, bene respondered, dignus,
dignus est entrare in nostro docto corpse." Then they ask him how
to cure a number of diseases. No matter what the sickness is, he has
one remedy: Clysterum donare, postem seignare, emita purgare.
But having gone far from such methods, we went to the other
extremes. We have abandoned morality.
It is no use teaching democracy to the young generation if the
fundamental ideas of morality and ethics were not instilled in them.
The average American does not care for culture or ethics in any form.
He adheres to the democratic form of government because that is the
government under which he was born but not out of conviction. And
he will adhere to what the majority does in everything.
He is no Dr. Stockman. And while he is fond of innovations in his
material life, he is afraid of and hates any new ideas including the
adherence to his party.
It is well known that somebody attributed the conquest of Fzithee
by Bismarek to the German school teacher. It is a country's educa-
tional system after all which is the backbone of its existence. Edu-
cate the teacher first and then you will have educated children, using'
educated in a moral and ethical sense. And by morals and ethics we
mean the welfare of the people. Salue populi suprema lex. (The wc:-
fare of the people is the greatest law.)

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Zion Book Store,
9008 12th Street, near Clairmount.

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April 13th
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